Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Beyond Meat Fajitas!!

I'm off to Portland for the second bi-annual Vida Vegan Con food bloggers conference! So this will be my last post until next Wednesday. But don't worry — I'll share oodles of drool-worthy shots of vegan doughnuts, vegan s'mores, gorditas, and goddess know what else I'll find in the vegan mecca when I return. And of course, I'll have lots of fun stories about hanging out with other bloggers!

Since I'll be gone for so long, I want to leave you with something good. How about a review and recipe using Beyond Meat? The folks at Beyond Meat, a new plant-based chicken that tastes and feels alarmingly like animal chicken, sent me samples of three of their chicken-free strip flavors to review in conjunction with their national release of Beyond Meat products at Whole Foods stores. Before, some Whole Foods (like the one here) carried prepared deli foods made with Beyond Meat, but now you can find it in the freezer case!

And if that wasn't awesome enough, Tropical Smoothie shops have begun carrying Beyond Meat for their wraps. The world is a beautiful place, my friends.

So how is it? Well, y'all know I love some plant meat, right? I've tried every plant meat I can get my hands on cause deep-down I'm a meat-and-potatoes gal who just can't bear to eat other breathing creatures. And I'll tell ya, this is the most realistic-tasting vegan meat on the market. It looks like meat. It tastes like meat. It even fooled my omni partner Paul (okay, he knew it was plant meat when he tried it, but he said it was delicious ... and that means a lot coming from him).

I got three flavors from the Beyond Meat folks, but tonight, I'll feature the Southwest Style because that's all I've had time to play with.

The soy-based meat comes in strips, and Southwest Style is seasoned with chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano, coriander, green pepper, and cayenne. Perfect for making fajitas!

I whipped up some Southwest Style Beyond Meat Fajitas for a quick weeknight meal.

11 comments:

Glad to see a recipe using Beyond Meat. I usually enjoy what I get from the Whole Foods salad bar but the noodle salad with Beyond Meat that I tried was bland and boring. I'm looking forward to preparing my own meals using Beyond Meat.

I've had this beyond meat product in the WF deli (in a chikn salad) but thought it was a gross texture (really firm and weird; I stopped eating it was so gross). Is it different perhaps when warm/cooked? I don't know how they prepared it but I'm curious why the blogosphere is excited about this stuff all of a sudden. Maybe I'll get these strips and try again. (And maybe I just don't recall/like the texture of meat?)

I really like Beyond Meat! I have been making chicken salad with it a lot. I believe it will be the recipe of the summer, haha. I'm really excited to hear you say that Tropical Smoothie is starting to carry it. I wonder if that will be everywhere. We have a tropical smoothie next door to my office, and it would be FANTASTIC to get beyond chicken wraps.

Thank you so much for everything you do, Bianca! I have tried many wonderful things by your recommendation alone and they've always been as awesome as you describe them. I really appreciate your reviews and can't wait to pick this up--I've seen it at my WF and now it has been 'Crunk Certified', I'm all over it! You rock.

I love this recipe ! Reminds me of you making soap at home, Mom. And it's fun to see photos of your house there and see Dad in that comfy chair we sat in when we visited, attempting to use the slow internet :)

I can't wait to hear how the soap turned out in terms of using it. Does it smell different since it is made with animal fat? Any other differences from vegetable-based soap?